Articulated lid



G. B. DOREY ARTICULATED LID Dec. 28, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Jan. 5, 1950 fi t / NVENTOR Dec. 28, 1954 G, B] D REY 2,698,206

' ARTICULATED LID Original Filed. Jan. 5, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 INVENTOR.

United States Patent ARTICULATED LID George B. Dorey, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, assignor v to Continental Transport Appliances, Limited, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a company of Canada 4 Claims. (Cl. 30847) My invention relates to an improved type of articulated lid such as employed for closing the openings of axle boxes of railway cars and the like and is a substitute application for my abandoned patent application Serial No. 137,017 filed January 5, 1950.

The objects of the invention among others are: to provide an articulated lid wherein a lid is pivoted to a retainer and wherein a hinge lug of extended length is provided on the lid to form a seat for the legs of a torsion spring; to provide an improved lid of the type wherein a retainer is pivoted to the hinge lug of the box and a lid proper is pivotally connected to the retainer as the final stage of the lid mounting operation and whereby the stressing of the spring is accomplished by a swinging movement of the retainer about its pivotal axis; to provide a lid retainer having means for accommodating a removable lever whereby increased leverage may be obtained in tensioning the spring by movement of the retainer; and to provide a structure wherein the stressing of the spring is accomplished by movement of the retainer and with the parts so arranged and proportioned that the spring tension with the lid in closed position will be retained independently of any other connection between the lid and the retainer.

For further comprehension of my invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a journal box having my improved articulated lid assembly applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a frontal elevational view of the structure shown in Figure l as viewed from right to left.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken through the lid and retainer at the location of articulation and on a line corresponding substantially to a line 3-3 of Pi 1.

iigure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken through the lid and journal box as seen on a line 4--4 of Figure 2, said view showing the position assumed by the retainer and lid before inserting the pintle of articulation.

Figure 5 is a frontal elevational view of the retainer in detached relation.

Figure 6 is a side elevational view of the retalner shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view taken through the retainer on a line corresponding to'a line 7-7 of Figure 6 Figure 8 is a perspective view of the bearing spacer.

Figure 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken through the journal box retainer, lid and spring, showmg the position of the parts at the commencement of the spr ng tensioning operation, said view being taken on a line corresponding to a line 9-9 of Figure 2.

In said drawings the journal box is indicated generally at 10 and is formed in part by side walls 11--11 and upper and lower walls as indicated at 12 and 13 respectively. Extending upwardly from the central portion of the upper wall 12 is a hinge lug 14 having an aperture 15 for the reception of a pintle 16 whereby the retainer is mounted on the lug.

The hinge lug 14 outwardly of the hinge pintle 16 is provided with angularly related cam faces 17 and 18 which meet in wedge shaped relation in a curved corner 19. The cam face 17 is disposed forwardly of the pintle 16 to lie in a substantially vertical plane and the face 18 is substantially horizontally disposed.

The lid assembly includes a retainer A which is pivotally mounted on the box lug 14 by means of the pintle 16 and a lid B which in turn is pivotally mounted on the retainer A by means of a pintle C, the axis of said pintle C being the axis of articulation of the lid assembly and preferably disposed centrally of the box opening.

The retainer A is generally of channel formation with side walls 20-20 and a connecting body portion including a front wall 21 and an endwall 22. The end wall 22 is extended laterally outwardly to each side beyond the main side walls 20 and at each outer end is provided with a downwardly extending wall 23 spaced outwardly form the main wall 20 thereby providing an intervening space which is bridged by a bearing spacer 24 which operates as a separator between said walls 20 and 23 and also forms a bearing for the pintle 16.

The element 24 which is of semicircular shape is welded at each end to the adjacent side walls as indicated generally at 25. Each inner wall 20 is formed with an elongated slot 26, the lower portion of which registers with and forms a continuation of the inner con cave surface 27 of the bearing member 24 and the upper part of said slot is in alignment with apertures 28 formed in the outer wall 23 for the passage of the pintle 16. Intermediate the aperture 28 and the bottom surface 27 of the bearing member 24 there is disposed a section of side wall as indicated at 29 which in effect provides a shoulder to prevent endwise outward movement of the pintle 16.

The lower margin of each side wall 23 is flanged outwardly to form an outstanding ledge as indicated at 30. The side walls 23 are formed with semicircularly shaped apertures 31 for the accommodation of the pintle C, said pintle C is preferably of semicircular section with an upper arcuately shaped surface 32 and a flat undersurface 33, the latter being adapted to seat upon the upper surface 34 of the ledges 30.

The lid B includes a fiat plate section 35 and downwardly turned marginal edges 36 and adjacent the center of the opening there is provided a hinge lug 37 which extends transversely from side to side of the retainer and is secured to the body plate section 35 of the lid by rivets 38. Said lug is formed with an interior concave surface 39 conforming to the shape of the upper surface 32 of the pintle C and the inner surface of said lug is also curved transversely as at 40 to permit limited rocking movement of the lid in a direction of the axis of the pintle C. The said lug 37 operates as a rigidifying member to strengthen the body of the lid in different directions.

A torsion spring 41 is disposed between the retainer and lid to react against the cam face 17 of the box lug 14 and maintain the lid in either open or closed positions.

Said torsion spring 41 is formed with an intermediate portion including a pair of coils 42 each formed by a plurality of spring convolutions. The intermediate coiled portions of the spring are spaced lengthwise from each other and seat in concave seats formed in the retainer by the inner surface 22a of the retainer end wall 22 and depressed embossments 43 formed in the front wall 21. Leading from the coiled portion of the spring in opposite directions are arm sections 44 and 45 which are respecfivelg ladapted to bear on the box lug 14 and the lid The arm section 44 includes a loop portion 46 on which an antifriction roller 47 is mounted, and the arm section 45 includes the tail ends of the springs which are spaced outwardly from each other to exert pressure adjacent the ends of the lug 37 and said ends extending from the outer end of the coil portions of the spring.

The axis 48 of the spring convolutions when the lid is in closed position is disposed on a line of thrust extending substantially at right angles to the vertical cam face 17 of the box lug and passing through the axis of pintle 16. The right angular disposition of the line of thrust has the advantage as indicated in Figure 4 of maintaining the spring under tension when the lid is in closed position without the necessity of pivotally connecting the retainer and lid at the axis of articulation. This retention of spring tension is of importance in the application and mounting of the lid assembly on the journal box inasmuch as my improvement contemplates the tensioning of the spring bythe use of'the retainer as a lever as seen by reference-to Figure 9. The mounting of-the lid is accomplished as follows: Assuming that the retainer is pivotally mounted on the box lug, the lid is positioned to cover the opening and the torsion spring is then interposed between the retainer and the lugs of the box andlid. With the coilsof the springfirrnly bedded in the. concaveseats ofthe retainer and the tails of the springtbearing on thelid lug a downward swinging movement ofthe .retainer from the position indicated inFigure 9 to that indicated in Figure 4 operates tofiatten the spring and bring the apertures of the retainer andlug in alignment when the pintle C is inserted and the-lid assembly is then imposition. Any suitable means may be employed for securing the pintle. against outward movement. The re.- tainer is extended lengthwise beyond thetpintle Candthe projecting portion serves the dual purpose of housing the spring tail ends andformingv an abutment tolimitrelative rotation betweenthelid. and retainer and inaddition provides adequate leverage for tensioning the spring. If desired the spring tensioning operation may be considerably facilitated by the use of a removableoperating bar inserted between the'pintle 16 and theinner face 22:: of tl91e end wall 22 of the retainer as indicated generally at 4 With the lid assembly in closed position the respectivearm sections 44 and 45 of the spring assume asubstantially straight. line thereby providing for. a most direct application of spring pressure on the lid lug which being arigid beam member operates to strengthen the lid and prevents bending and warping of the latter. A special advantage of my construction lies in the ease whereby spring renewals may be eitected without the use of special tools.

What I claim as new'is:

1. In an articulated lid assemblyfor a journal box having an openingand a hinge lug adjacent one side of the opening, said lug having an aperture for receiving a mounting pintle for the assembly and having a substan- I spring having an intermediate coiled section seating on v the retainer and oppositely extending arms leading therefrom to seat on the lug of the box and lug of the lid respectively, said last named arm section of the spring including the ends of the spring arranged in spaced relation and resting upon the lug of the lid, said intermediate portion of the spring when the lid assembly is in closed position having its axis lying on a line of thrust extending substantially normal to theflat face of the lug and passing through the axis of the box lug pintle wherebythe spring is maintained in stressed relation independently of the pintle of articulation.

2. In an articulated lid assembly for the opening of a journal box having a hinge lug adjacent one side of the opening and including a retainer pivoted to the lug of the box and a lid pivoted to the retainer, said retainer including inner main side walls lying adjacent the lug of the box and other walls spaced outwardly from said main side walls and a connecting wall extending transversely between said outer walls across the plane of said main walls, and bearing spacers extending between said in er and outer walls and welded thereto, said spacers form g bearings for the pivot of the retainer on the lug.

3. In an articulated lid assembly for the opening 013 a journal box having a hinge lug adjacent one side of the opening and including a retainer pivoted to the lug of the box and a lid pivoted to the retainer; said retainer including main side walls lying adjacent a lug and secondary side walls spaced outwardly from said main walls, and bearing spacers extending between and united with said main and secondary walls, slots in themain side walls for accommodating amounting pivot of the retainer therethrough, the lowervportion of said slots being in alignment with thebearing surface of the spacers and forming continuations thereof and apertures in the outer walls aligned with the upper portions of the slots and spaced appreciably from the lower bearing surface of the said spacers to form shoulders for limiting endwise. movement of the pivot.

4. In an articulated lid assembly for the opening of a journal box having a hinge lug presenting a substantially flat face adjacent one side of the opening and including a retainer pivoted to the lug and a lid proper pivoted to theretainer; a torsion spring hearing at one end on the fiat face of the hinge lug when the lid is in closed position, said spring also bearing on the lid proper and having an intermediate coil portionbearing on the retainer, said lid andretainer having aligned apertures anda pintle extending through the said respective members for maintaining the lid and retainer in assembled relation, said coil portion of the spring when the lid is in closed position having the axis of the coil lying on a line of thrust substantially normal to the flat face of the lug and passing through the axis of the box lug pintle whereby the spring is maintained in stressed relation independently of the pintle of articulation thereby permitting insertion of the pintle with the spring in stressed relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,292,747 Dorey Aug. 11, 1942 2,455,031 Weber Nov. 30, 1948 2,459,905 Weber Jan. 25, 1949 

